Rating: 
Summary: A great addition o this mystey series
Review: After a quarter of a century of marriage in which the twosome argued and fought seemingly all the time, but produced incredible pottery, the Nordans are divorcing. Randolph County, North Carolina visiting Judge Deborah Knott must equitably and legally divide the property between James Lucas Nordan and Sandra Kay Hitchcock, but Her Honor realizes that this is an extremely complicated knot to untie. Before Deborah finishes her distribution, someone murders James. Deborah wonders if his homicide might be tied into his brother's suicide two years ago. Unable to remain on the sidelines, Deborah begins to investigate he recent tragedies of the Nordan family. UNCOMMON CLAY, the latest Judge Knott mystery (see STORM TRACK) is a taut regional thriller that combines down home wit and humor with a tense who-done-it. The story line never slackens for even a paragraph as readers are drawn into the Nordan family like Pooh Bear to honey (that simile is for Ashley Klausner who gracefully let me use it). The charcaters, especially the Judge, leave the reader touching the red clay of North Carolina. As usual marvelous Margaret Maron provides another wonderful tale that will thrill sub-genre fans. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A great addition o this mystey series
Review: After a quarter of a century of marriage in which the twosome argued and fought seemingly all the time, but produced incredible pottery, the Nordans are divorcing. Randolph County, North Carolina visiting Judge Deborah Knott must equitably and legally divide the property between James Lucas Nordan and Sandra Kay Hitchcock, but Her Honor realizes that this is an extremely complicated knot to untie. Before Deborah finishes her distribution, someone murders James. Deborah wonders if his homicide might be tied into his brother's suicide two years ago. Unable to remain on the sidelines, Deborah begins to investigate he recent tragedies of the Nordan family. UNCOMMON CLAY, the latest Judge Knott mystery (see STORM TRACK) is a taut regional thriller that combines down home wit and humor with a tense who-done-it. The story line never slackens for even a paragraph as readers are drawn into the Nordan family like Pooh Bear to honey (that simile is for Ashley Klausner who gracefully let me use it). The charcaters, especially the Judge, leave the reader touching the red clay of North Carolina. As usual marvelous Margaret Maron provides another wonderful tale that will thrill sub-genre fans. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: I found this book to be "uncommonly" good!
Review: Continuing my love affair with the works of Margaret Maron, I returned to her Deborah Knott series and really enjoyed "Uncommon Clay", which is a quick read with an ending that surprised me. Deb is again on the road, visiting Asheboro this time, and the reader gets the treat of learning more about NC folk crafts...(prior novels have featured furniture), this time with the work of Carolina's folk pottery industry. Some interesting and colorful new characters and friends are added to the story line. The book also continues the saga of Deb's romances, and how badly they go sometimes. In this tale, Deb has two embarrassing scrapes with the down side of relationships. Maron also takes the time to insert a small tidbit about Oscar Nauman, a character from her Sigrid Harald series, in a way that makes the reference seem real and natural. With its interesting plots, spunky heroine, delightful descriptions of large southern families and friends, and its ability to educate the reader on the life and times of beautiful NC, the Knott series is a fast, entertaining, and well written group of books. Uncommon Clay still leaves me hungry for more!
Rating:
Summary: Best Yet
Review: Except for Storm Track, I've read all of the Deborah Knott series. To me, Uncommon Clay is the best yet! The research and information that Margaret supplied about the NC pottery industry was a bonus to the solid mystery she always provides. I'll be going to Seagrove soon. Too bad I won't be able to find her fictious potteries - I'd love to meet these characters!
Rating:
Summary: Best Yet
Review: Except for Storm Track, I've read all of the Deborah Knott series. To me, Uncommon Clay is the best yet! The research and information that Margaret supplied about the NC pottery industry was a bonus to the solid mystery she always provides. I'll be going to Seagrove soon. Too bad I won't be able to find her fictious potteries - I'd love to meet these characters!
Rating: 
Summary: Uncommon Clay - Too Common
Review: Fans of Judge Debrah Knott's wit and dry observations will be disappointed in this book. It was by far Margaret Maron's most basic, simple writings of the Judge Debrah Knott series. There was no inter-action between her and her family, specifically her father. Her break-up with Kidd was a disappointment as far as her not making him pay for what he did to her. In other books Debrah was patient and closed mouth as far as her knowledge. In this book she was the town gossip spreading the dirt she knew. I will continue with the series but Ms Maron can do better by us and by Debrah than what was done in Uncommon Clay.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I delayed reading this book, because Killer Market was so bad.
The other Deborah Knott books were good. As I live only 9 miles
from Seagrove I wanted to see if the book was accurate and it
was to my knowledge, except for one little detail and that is
Dorothy and Walter Auman had a son and grandchildren, but they
are not in the pottery business, so this detail is not at all
important. I'm forgetting Killer Market and am going to return
to reading all the Margaret Maron books, right after I go to
Seagrove and buy some more pottery.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I delayed reading this book, because Killer Market was so bad.
The other Deborah Knott books were good. As I live only 9 miles
from Seagrove I wanted to see if the book was accurate and it
was to my knowledge, except for one little detail and that is
Dorothy and Walter Auman had a son and grandchildren, but they
are not in the pottery business, so this detail is not at all
important. I'm forgetting Killer Market and am going to return
to reading all the Margaret Maron books, right after I go to
Seagrove and buy some more pottery.
Rating: 
Summary: Uncommon Margaret Maron
Review: I have been a fan of Margaret Maron's for years. I read all of her first series of books, the Sigrid Harald mysteries. I was at first disappointed when she had made the switch to Deboral Knott and had a hard time liking Deborah as much as Sigrid - maybe with Sigrid, "like" is not the right word, but rather "fascinated by" is better put. I have now, however, come to enjoy this series as much. In this episode, Judge Knott has recently broken with her semi-boyfriend and she is assigned to a divorce settlement case in a neighboring city. One of the divorcing spouses is killed and Deborah steps in to help solve the murder. This is a bit different from the regular Judge Knott mysteries as she does not actively work on finding the culprit, rather she lets people around her gossip, watches peoples'interactions, and puts two and two together. Maron's writing, as usual, is topnotch; the mystery is easy to figure out but the book is still a winner because she always makes the surrondings and people inhabiting the book interesting. Can't wait for the next episode, "Slow Dollar." Keep 'em coming, Ms. Maron!
Rating:
Summary: Another great book by Margaret Maron.
Review: In this novel Deborah Knott visits the pottery making area of Asheboro, NC. She is sent to the area by the Chief Judge to help clear out a backlogged court calendar. She hopes to buy a platter for her new home. One of the cases involves the divorce of two people from famous potting families. Just before their valuable collection is divided, the husband is brutally murdered. In addition to untangling the marital woes of the area, she now has to solve a murder. This is another excellent novel by Maron. She takes us to yet another area of North Carolina, and her descriptions are very vivid. She gives you many clues to solve the mystery, yet I still didn't figure it out until nearly the end. Great book!!
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